The Hundred-Foot Journey
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures | Release Date: August 8, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
55
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
16
Mixed:
19
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanAug 7, 2014
Is “feel-good” a bad word? Critics often think so. But when a movie explores real emotions en route to its gladdening end, when it takes time to touch on serious issues along the way, it earns the right to make us feel good. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicRandy CordovaAug 7, 2014
There's comfort food and there are comfort movies. In Lasse Hallstrom's The Hundred-Foot Journey, you get a full helping of both. And guess what? It's all very comforting. Read full review
75
ObserverRex ReedAug 7, 2014
Linus Sandgren’s lush camerawork and the glittering, throbbing musical score by A. R. Rahman contribute a distinctive flavor of their own. The performances are superb. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliAug 7, 2014
The Hundred-Foot Journey represents a pleasant diversion for those who have grown weary of traditional summer movie fare. The picture is about people and how they interact. There are no explosions or car chases. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesBill ZweckerAug 7, 2014
Overall this is a solid, intelligent movie about the joys of expanding our horizons — in all directions. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleAug 7, 2014
The result is that this is one of those rare movies that gets better as it goes along. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyAug 7, 2014
I never entirely bought the flirty détente between the two or believed in the rapturous power of a perfectly cooked sea urchin to solve the world's problems. But for two hours, at least, I swallowed it with a smile. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldConnie OgleAug 7, 2014
A trifle bland, but with enough virtues to make it palatable to audiences who want comfort food, not a challenge, when they go to the movies. Read full review
75
New York PostLou LumenickAug 6, 2014
Manages to be a satisfying meal, if not quite a feast, for famished adult audiences. Read full review
70
Village VoiceStephanie ZacharekAug 5, 2014
Almost embarrassingly enjoyable, despite the fact that — or maybe because — it's ridiculous in a shiny, Hollywood way. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerAug 8, 2014
I wish the movie weren’t quite so sappy about the spiritually redemptive powers of fine cuisine. Sometimes a meal is just a meal. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesAug 6, 2014
The Hundred-Foot Journey is elevated comfort food. The flavors aren’t complex, but it’s nourishing nonetheless. Read full review
64
Film.comKate ErblandAug 7, 2014
An amiable cast and a satisfying enough story make The Hundred-Foot Journey stick to your ribs, even if it’s hard to swallow early on. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaAug 8, 2014
It would be curmudgeonly to count all the ways in which The Hundred-Foot Journey is unsurprising, unrealistic, unnecessary. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter TraversAug 7, 2014
The heavy plot sauce weighs down the movie. Director Lasse Hallstrom had similar buoyancy problems in 2000's bewilderingly Oscar-nominated "Chocolat." Here he lucks out big time with Mirren and Puri, two pros who know how to lift an audience over plot hurdles and turn a merely digestable diversion into a treat. Read full review
63
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsAug 7, 2014
Although the outcome is as predetermined as a prix-fixe menu, the storytelling is as smooth as goose-liver pate through a pastry nozzle. Read full review
60
The TelegraphMike McCahillSep 10, 2014
As the narrative approaches its desired fusion of Gallic and Indian cuisine, so too Hallstrom looks to have hit his sweet spot: the very middle of middlebrow. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriAug 7, 2014
Ultimately, what comes through most forcefully in The Hundred-Foot Journey is the longing of the immigrant, the overwhelming push-pull between the need to belong and the need to assert one’s own identity. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierAug 7, 2014
Any movie with food as a motif runs the risk of pouring on the metaphor, and that happens here, too. Read full review
60
Time OutChristina IzzoAug 5, 2014
The movie’s never tastier than when screen vets Mirren and Puri are sparring, pettily buying out each other’s produce at the local market or bellyaching to the town’s mayor. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Aug 6, 2014
This innocuous crowd-pleaser delivers everything that its pedigree and ad campaign promise, courting the patronage of foodies, Oprah Book Club members, Travel Channel subscribers, and Helen Mirren lovers alike. Read full review
55
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeJul 26, 2014
It delivers the kind of sentimental sledgehammering I found myself willing to forgive — the presence of Helen Mirren goes a long way in that regard — but once the story goes off on a pointless tangent, the whole soufflé collapses. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianJamie S. RichAug 8, 2014
The Hundred-Foot Journey fails to replicate the sensation of sharing a quality meal. Movies of this kind should leave you feeling hungry. Compare the Indian love story "The Lunchbox" from earlier this year. You'd swear you could smell the tandoori chicken while watching it. Read full review
50
TimeRichard CorlissAug 7, 2014
The Hundred-Foot Journey is on a mission to make you cry. Whether you oblige will depend on your fondness for, or immunity to, the gentler stereotypes of movie romance. Read full review
50
Boston GlobePeter KeoughAug 7, 2014
Unfortunately, this is one movie about food that I’m forgetting already. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternAug 7, 2014
The folk-wisdom level is tolerable, just as the clichés and manipulations are palatable, because the story is full of life, and free of ironic additives. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineElise NakhnikianAug 7, 2014
The film is rife with tired food metaphors and plot twists so predictable you see them coming like travelers on the poplar-lined street that leads to the dueling restaurants. Read full review
50
Washington PostMark JenkinsAug 7, 2014
Perhaps seeking to retain something of the book’s rhythm, Knight and Hallstrom let a very simple story meander for two hours and include episodes that serve no dramatic purpose. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireAug 7, 2014
The food in question isn’t a bon bon this time — rather, the movie is the bon bon itself. Read full review
50
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreAug 6, 2014
The culinary culture clash comedy The Hundred-Foot Journey dawdles, like a meal that drags on and on because the waiter is too busy texting to bother bringing you the check. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenJul 25, 2014
Whether they’re filing ridiculous complaints about each other to the unflappable mayor (Michel Blanc), arguing over the proper presentation of ingredients or sharing a cafe table, Mirren and Puri bring an effortless command to their roles. Read full review
50
VarietyJustin ChangJul 25, 2014
Scrumptious as it all is, it hurts to watch chefs so committed to excellence in a movie so content to settle for attractive mediocrity. Read full review
42
HitfixDrew McWeenyAug 5, 2014
The film is a mild pleasure at best. There's nothing necessarily wrong with it, and it's well-crafted, but the screenplay by Steven Knight is so remarkably free of anything resembling actual drama that I'm almost mystified by it. Read full review
40
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottAug 8, 2014
The result is a film with a scattered feel. That's particularly true in the film's rushed third act, as it skips around all herky-jerky, cramming in resolutions to the various conflicts but never quite giving any of them adequate time to gel. Read full review
40
The DissolveNathan RabinAug 6, 2014
Nothing is surprising about The Hundred-Foot Journey. It’s a film that telegraphs all its beats and character arcs, executes them adequately but without passion or personality, then congratulates itself on a job done. Read full review
30
The New York TimesA.O. ScottAug 7, 2014
The Hundred-Foot Journey is likely neither to pique your appetite nor to sate it, leaving you in a dyspeptic limbo, stuffed with false sentiment and forced whimsy and starved for real delight. Read full review
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